Classic Rewind review

January 15, 2008

Enjoyed watching the 4,192 game in its entirety. Thanks FSN Ohio. Some of the pop-up facts they showed were great … here are some I either learned or was reminded of by watching last night (or found this morning):

A review of Ty Cobb’s hits revealed two of his hits were counted twice. So Pete had actually broken the all-time hits record with a single in the first against the Cubs’ Reggie Patterson in Chicago on Sept. 8. But what I found interesting was Pete, who was under the impression (as everyone was at the time) that he needed 4,192, apparently didn’t care about being in Cincinnati when he broke the record. He had two hits in that Sept. 8 game to reach 4,191, but he didn’t pull himself or approach subsequent at-bats half-assed. He lined hard to Shawon Dunston later in the game, a rope that easily could have been 4,192. He benched himself Sept. 9 (the series opener at Riverfront) and went 0-for-4 in front of a SRO crowd Sept. 10.

Hit No. 4,192 came 57 years to the day after Cobb played in his last game. Pete’s 4,000th hit had come exactly 21 years after his first base hit.

Lee Weyer, the home plate umpire when Pete collected his 4,192nd hit, was the third base ump in the April 8, 1974 game in which Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s record of 714 career home runs.

Ed Montague, the first base umpire on Sept. 11, 1985, was umpiring second base when Barry Bonds hit his 715th home run to pass Ruth. Also, Montague’s father, a former Cleveland Indian, played against Ty Cobb.

The first guy to congratulate Pete was Tommy Helms, who came up through the minors with Pete and was one of his best friends. Rose grabbed Helms as he sobbed and said, “I don’t know what to do.” Helms replied, “That’s OK, boss. You’re number one. You deserve it all.”

Padres pitcher Eric Show sat down on the mound during most of the seven-minute celebration but also got up and went over to first to shake Pete’s hand.

A red Corvette was driven in from the outfield during the celebration. It bore the Ohio license plate PR 4192. The color, he was told, was “Rose red.” Rose suggested a better description might be “Cincinnati Reds red.”

Rose’s second wife, Carol (who was 31 at the time) and their 11-month-old son Tyler were in the stands. His ex-wife, Karolyn, was also on hand as Pete hugged Pete Jr. Petey later said he had not only never seen his dad cry but had “never really got a hug or a kiss before.” Tommy Gioiosa and Ron Peters were also at the game; Peters (Rose’s bookie) watched from a seat along the third-base line courtesy of Rose. And then there’s the famous line from Collision at Home Plate about how Pete changed his uniform shirt three times during the game – one shirt for himself, one for Marge and one to sell. Gioiosa later told Vanity Fair he was in the clubhouse before the game and watched Rose put on several undershirts instead of just one. Gioiosa said Rose told him, “I’ll sell every one of these motherf—ers.”

Rose not only made the final out on a diving stop at first on a Steve Garvey liner, he scored both of the Reds’ runs in the 2-0 win. BTW, Nick Esasky drove him in both times.

Mayor Luken had scheduled an official celebration on Fountain Square at 11:30 a.m. two days after Rose broke Cobb’s record. The delay was due in part to Rose, who didn’t want to get up early after playing in a night game and was expected to make appearances on early-morning network news shows (they even taped Phil Donahue’s show at Riverfront the morning after the hit). But city council had passed an ordinance to change 2nd Street to Pete Rose Way, and Luken said the new street signs would go up in an unveiling ceremony at 10 a.m. the morning after he broke the record.